The study showed that the number of adults playing full contact American football has risen by over 18% which is an incredibly large increase considering the amount of players that were already playing the sport.

One of the most notable increases can be seen in the amount of coaches now found in UK American football which has now increased by 47%. The rise in coaches will definitely contribute to the game’s expansion as more coaches means more focus on the improvements of players.

One team that has certainly experienced the growth of American Football in the UK is the Swansea Titans. The Titans joined the University American Football league in 2009 and have first hand experience of the rise of the sport in the UK. After joining the league the Titans would have to wait until the 2013-14 season to reach their first set of playoffs in which they won the National Challenge Trophy. The league was realigned twice after this and the Titans found themselves in the league below the Premiership.

The Titans went on to play the Kingston Cougars in the 2014-15 playoffs but were ultimately knocked out. The Titans bounced back from the disappointing loss to Kingston the following season by going undefeated and sealing their promotion to the Premiership.

Since the move to the Premiership, the Titans have enjoyed a lot more respect as a team from both the British American football bubble and their fellow students after winning University team of the year for the second time in three years. David Asamoah, a star wide receiver for the Titans, believes that this has been largely due to the general increase in interest for the sport in the UK. ‘It’s easy to see that American football is getting much bigger here (in the UK), there are now four sell out NFL games taking place in Wembley and Twickenham this year.’

When asked about how he felt about the team winning team of the year, Asamoah believes that it is a great thing for American Football in the UK. ‘By beating so many other talented teams in the University for the award, it truly shows that people are impressed by both the sport and the way we play. It’s a great thing for the sport’.

In fact, the Titans have experienced such a rise to prominence in the Uni that Sam Huxtable, a highly talented quarterback and receiver, was chosen as the poster boy for Swansea University’s varsity. Having a Titans player as poster boy for the Uni was very much unfamiliar territory for the Titans but was a great step in the right direction for American football in the UK.

Sam Huxtable (Centre) was the poster boy for the 2017 Varsity. Credit-Swansea University.

If reading this article has made you interested in playing American football, there are teams based everywhere in the U.K for all ages. For a list of teams in the UK, click here to go to Double Coverage’s website. If you’d like a snippet of what it is like to play American football, we put a GoPro on Huxtable’s head during a training session for a POV angle which can be seen below.

Interview: Injuries in American Football

Taylor-Jones (Bottom Left) celebrating the 2015-16 Division 1 National Title with the Titans just a year after his injury. Photo credit- Whizzyfingers Photography.

American football has become one of the most dangerous sports in the world and is not looking like changing any time soon. The NFL has often come under fire for failing to fully protect its players but it seems like the problem also exists in the U.K.

Lewis Taylor-Jones, an offensive lineman for the Swansea Titans, has first hand experience of a long term injury after sustaining a tear in a knee ligament in 2014. Taylor-Jones was set to be a key player for the Titans in the 2014-15 season but injured himself in an Oklahoma drill. The Oklahoma drill is one of the most physical training drills in American football and is widely used.

Despite being so widely used, the Oklahoma drill has its critics as many believe the drill is too dangerous for players and is ‘archaic’. However it would be harsh to blame Taylor-Jones’ injury purely on the Oklahoma drill. Taylor-Jones plays in one of the most injury prone positions in the sport. In a study carried out by the Journal of Physical Activity and Health over ten thousand high school students, it was discovered that offensive lineman were injured more than any other position.

Interestingly the report also mentions that the most common injury sustained by offensive lineman were knee injuries and that the medial collateral ligament in the knee was the most common injury in American football. One of the main questions posed by these findings is whether anything can be done to prevent these injuries.

It would seem that knee braces certainly prevent against knee injuries but players outside of the NFL are expected to pay for them with their own money. With top braces costing around £100, should clubs be paying for their players protection? If teams in the United Kingdom are unable to afford the braces, should they be made compulsory so that offensive lineman would be forced to buy them? Taylor-Jones is certainly a supporter of knee braces and an interview with the player can be heard below.

South Wales is green

It was 11am on a warm Wednesday in Cardiff and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. For Cardiff it was a nothing to lose game with the mighty Titans being a division above their Welsh counterparts.

As the game kicked off, it was greeted by a roar of both the teams fans reminiscent of a viking battle cry. Green and red jerseys clattered as both sidelines watched eagerly for the first score. Both teams were unable to score on their opening drives but that was soon to change.

The Titans took to the field and everything changed, the trenches became theirs. As the offensive line began to dominate, the running backs began to spread their legs and glide through the weary Cobras defence. As the game progressed the Titans began to wear the black paint of the Cobras helmets with pride, finishing every play with positive yards.

The support of the travelling Swansea supporters seemed to be taken well by the Swansea Titans as they began to respond with touchdown after touchdown. Whilst the Titans seemed to respond well to the sunshine, the Cobras were not as appreciative of the rays as tensions began to boil.

As the game became more physical so did the players as players from both teams began to throw handbags to assert their dominance. Fortunately no punches were thrown but it certainly came close. By halftime the Titans were leading 28-0 at the Cobras’ snake pit and the sidelines were a complete juxtaposition.

The Cobras sideline was full of gloomy faces but the Titans sideline mimicked the dancing rays of the sun as their first half went perfectly. The second half would prove to be a better time for the Cobras as they were able to feed their hungry fans with a touchdown.

The Titans didn’t start the second half firing on all cylinders like their first half display but they were still able to finish strongly, winning 40-7 and retaining the Varsity Trophy.

Despite the strong win for the Titans, the team’s mood instantly dropped into the cut up ground as they realised this would be the last game for their indispensable head coach, Nick Keyse. As Keyse gave a farewell speech, it was replicant of a captain speaking to his battalion, one thing was clear, the Titans will never see a coach as good as the mighty Keyse. Roll Green Tide.

Class of the Titans

Swansea Titans Roster 2016-2017. Photo Credit- Harrison Andrews.

Despite being regarded as the underdogs of the division, the Swansea Titans finished third in their division with a winning record.

The Titans were not just the first Welsh team in the history of UK University American football to play in the premiership, they were also the first Welsh team to reach the playoffs since the league’s restructure. They were ultimately knocked out in the playoffs by Loughborough but the loss shouldn’t take away from what was a great season for the University American football team.

The season began with a shock 22-13 win over the Kingston Cougars, a team that had previously denied the Titans’ promotion by knocking them out in the 2014-15 playoffs. The win had shocked the UK University American football world and was the sign of things to come for the underdog Titans team. The team followed up on the shock result against Kingston with a comfortable 26-0 win against the Bath Killer Bees, another game that pundits expected the Titans to lose.

Not everything went perfect throughout the season however, they went on to lose their following two games against the ferocious Birmingham Lions. The Titans found themselves within touching distance of taming the Lions who were last years Premiership champions after only losing 28-19. Unfortunately, nine seemed to be Swansea’s unlucky number against Birmingham as they would go on to lose by another nine point deficit the following week.

The team’s confidence had clearly taken a knock after the losses to the Lions and this was apparent in the team’s third win of the season against the Killer Bees. Whilst the Titans were able to seal the win over the Killer Bees, they were only able to scrape a 9-8 over a team they had previously beaten 26-0. The Titans’ offence were seemingly carried by their defence in the Bath game, which is not something the Titans’ offence were happy with. The defence however were more than happy with their performance and justifiably so.

The following week, the Titans lost 35-18 to a thunderous Hertfordshire Hurricanes team. The loss became a catalyst in the Titans’ season, especially from an offensive point of view. Swansea found themselves playing Hertfordshire again the following week but this time, the Titans were home.

The Titans completely outplayed the previously undefeated Hurricanes on every front. The defence looked superior, the offensive line dominated, the receivers stepped up and running backs Shaun Vaughan and Josh Hughes ran right into the eye of the storm and came out with touchdowns. In an interview, Charlie Cooksley, a currently injured third year linebacker, proclaimed that it was ‘one of the best Titans games’ he’d ever seen.

Although the University season is over, the Titans still find themselves with a game to play. They face the Cardiff Cobras on the 5th April in a vicious rivalry that has all the makings of a great game. Calum Lyle, a star defensive back for the Titans, said that he believes that ‘whilst it may be close, I expect a Titans win. It’ll be a great way to end the season’.